June 2011

Posted on
06/29/2011
by
Sam Melden

This 1988 photo shows some of the changes since the 1973 photo I commented on. The dairy cows are still in the pasture and those same fields are being worked by the fifth generation of Oplands since the farm was settled in 1892 by my great grandfather. My parents still live in the original home where my dad was born and raised. Thanks for another great glimpse back in time!

Posted on
06/27/2011
by
Sam Melden

Another week, another mystery – now with the ability to zoom! (Zoom.It) Read the guidelines below, then comment and be sure to include a link to a corresponding map. Then, this Friday we will reveal this photos location in the comment section of this post!

Posted on
06/26/2011
by
Sam Melden

My Grandparents bought this farm in 1935. Two of my uncles had an airport here until the mid sixties. My grandfather raise register Brown Swiss cattle until he passed away in1957. It is now a housing project that was built in then 90’s.

Posted on
06/24/2011
by
Kevin Marsh

Posted on
06/20/2011
by
Sam Melden

Another week, another mystery! Here is the entry for this week. Read the guidelines below, then comment and be sure to include a link to a corresponding map. Then, this Friday we will reveal this photos location in the comment section of this post!

Posted on
06/17/2011

Each week we post a mysterious photo. We need help identifying it and you all come to our aid and chip in. Whether you are familiar with the area or simply know the tools to find detailed information you have proven yourself time and time again!

The historic Columbian House, Waterville, OH.

So, as we move on to our next book, we need your help! The photos that will end up in our next volume, Vintage Waterville, all have a mysterious quality to them and we need to discover them. So, if you are interested check out the directions below and jump in! We will be posting some of the photos to Facebook and getting as many people involved as possible, and we would love to have you!

Posted on
06/16/2011
by
Sam Melden

Last week we celebrated the publishing of our first book, Vintage Sylvania. It was a wonderful night attended by many friends and Sylvania residents. If you weren’t able to make it in person enjoy a few photos from the night. You can buy the book here – VintageAerial.com/Books

Posted on
06/13/2011
by
Sam Melden

Another week, another mystery! Here is the entry for this week. Read the guidelines below, then comment and be sure to include a link to a corresponding map. Then, this Friday we will reveal this photos location in the comment section of this post!

Posted on
06/08/2011
by
Sam Melden

Posted on
06/07/2011
by
Sam Melden

“Occasionally one stumbles into a coincidence that, like an unexpected alignment of windows, momentarily cancels out the sense of historical whereabouts, giving with an overwhelming immediacy an awareness of the reality of the past. The possibility of this awareness is always immanent in old homesites. It may suddenly bear in upon one at the sight of old orchard trees standing in the dooryard of a house now filled with baled hay. It came to me when I looked out the attic window of a disintegrating log house and saw a far view of the cleared ridges with wooded hollows in between, and nothing in sight to reveal the date.” - Wendell Berry

Posted on
06/06/2011
by
Sam Melden

Another week, another mystery! Here is the entry for this week. Read the guidelines below, then comment and be sure to include a link to a corresponding map. Then, this Friday we will reveal this photos location in the comment section of this post!

Posted on
06/05/2011
by
Sam Melden

A great story from Becky in Story County, Iowa. I wonder how many of our photos have buildings that are no longer standing due to tornadoes?

This farm was owned by my dad, John McCann, at the time of the picture. The map is slightly inaccurate as the property is on the southside of the road. Nearly all of the original buildings were destroyed by a tornado on June 13, 1976.- Becky McCann Leuenhagen

Posted on
06/04/2011
by
Sam Melden

In just under one week we will have a party celebrating the publishing of our first book! The book is called Vintage Sylvania, and it will be available on June 16th. Check out this article from The Toledo Blade.

It’s not a history of Sylvania, although there’s a lot of history in it.
It’s not a coffee table book, although it contains more pictures than words.
The staff at Perrysburg-based Vintage Aerial say the company’s first book, Vintage Sylvania, will be a sentimental journey of sorts for anyone who lived or lives in the Sylvania area, who appreciates local history, and who might have fond memories of the places depicted in its pages. (Toledo Blade Article)

Posted on
06/03/2011
by
Jordan Justice

Today, I’m bringing another tool to you guys that we use when hunting down the location of photos.

This one is awesome! I’m so excited to show you and then enable you to use it.

The biggest part of my job is working with our GIS software that my colleague, Kevin Marsh developed. You can read more about GIS in another post I wrote a while ago here.

As I trace the flight paths from the old flight maps, they are stored on our server, and linked to the corresponding roll. Using GIS software, we can then export the flight paths to a .kml file, and view them in Google Earth.

So how does this help in the photo search? The amazing thing about Google Earth is that it lets you fly anywhere to view detailed satellite imagery, maps, and terrain. As you can see in the photo below, this is much more helpful than the old county maps I showed you in the last post.

Ready for the best part? You can also click the flight path which will then open the roll’s webpage inside of Google Earth. This allows me to search for other images on the roll, helping me narrow down the exact location for the mystery photo.

And today, we’re proud to be able to give you this same ability. You’ll need to download Google Earth, and also our .kml file of all the flight paths we’ve finished. So, lets use this technology together to uncover something historic.

Posted on
06/01/2011
by
Jordan Justice

Typically I’ll notice an interesting photo and forward it Sam, who then files it away for a future Mystery Monday post. The only concrete information we have on the photo at first is the date it was taken, and the County and State it is located in. Then sometime later in the week, we utilize some tools that we have, and narrow down the photos precise location. So we did that… and failed.

And that’s what these next couple of posts are really about. Giving you the same tools we have to find the location of this mysterious photo. Why do this when we’ve already spent hours looking? Because we don’t know everything. Time and time again you guys amaze us with your vast knowledge of the surrounding terrain, architectural style, and other fantastic observations. And as we always mention in our Mystery Monday posts, it’s estimated that 40% of our photos document places that are no longer standing. So maybe one you lives where this photo is located and remember when it was still standing.

Alright, so here’s what we know about the photo:

The photo was taken in 1964 and is located somewhere in Beaver County, PA.

Thankfully, we also have a flight map that goes along with the film. It looks like this.